Good morning! I wanted to share some great news I saw posted recently about some of the work CenturyLink is doing to help communities!

CenturyLink installed and donated high-speed connectivity to the hospital ship U.S. Naval Ship Mercy when it arrived at the port of Los Angeles from San Diego Friday, March 27.

When the ship entered the port, CenturyLink was at the dock working with military personnel, the port authority and commercial providers to meet the project’s demanding 48-hour timeline.

The USNS Mercy is being specially deployed to assist with COVID-19 response efforts and is usually used to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The Mercy will provide 1,000 extra beds and more than 800 medical personnel as a back-up hospital for patients needing critical medical services not associated with COVID-19, thus allowing local Los Angeles health professionals and area hospitals to focus on treating patients with COVID-19.

Due to the critical and complex nature of the work onboard, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) needed a technology company that could provide high-capacity network services safely, securely and quickly.

CenturyLink stepped up and is waiving installation fees and providing a 1 gigabit Ethernet circuit at no charge for 12 months that connects DISA’s shored-based Naval Air Station North Island to the USNS Mercy.

CenturyLink’s network agility and speed, as well as its complex problem-solving skills and project management expertise, enabled it to prepare for rapidly connecting a hospital ship arriving on the shoreline of a major city.

“When the military reached out to us about providing dockside connectivity to the USNS Mercy with two days’ notice before it arrived in Los Angeles, we quickly put our network expertise to work to make it happen,” said Ed Morche, CenturyLink’s President of Enterprise And Government Markets.

“We are focused on solving complex customer problems and combining that know-how with our commitment to always doing the right thing," Morche said. "We are honored to be able to donate our time and services to support our nation’s military and healthcare professionals during these trying times. We choose to serve those who serve.”